Two blocs representing dozens of Muslim countries threw their weight behind a Palestinian challenge to the legality of Israel's West Bank barrier on Wednesday as three days of hearings ended at the World Court.
The Arab League and Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC), which represent about 20 percent of the world population and include some of Israel's fiercest foes, testified last in one of the highest profile cases in the court's 58-year history.
"Does this not all bring back to the present the Berlin Wall episode which was dubbed the wall of shame?" Arab League representative Michael Bothe asked the court in The Hague.
"The wall is profoundly affecting the living conditions in the Palestinian occupied territories. It leads to migration, to the displacement of major parts of the Palestinian population, to a consolidation of the unlawful Israeli settlements."
Israel says it needs the barrier to keep out Palestinian suicide bombers, who struck again on Sunday - the eve of the court hearing - killing eight people. Palestinians, who want the court to declare the barrier illegal, call it a land grab.
"With the wall there is no longer a viable Palestine, thus no peace possible between the two states," said Monique Chemillier-Gendreau, legal adviser to the 57-member OIC.
Hundreds of Palestinian protesters chanting "Allahu Akbar," (God is Greatest) clashed with Israeli security forces on Wednesday near where work has begun on a new section of fence.
The case in the Hague has underlined the stalemate in peacemaking efforts after more than three years of violence.
RULING IN MONTHS: The World Court's 15 judges are expected to issue their opinion within months. Their decision is non-binding but it could influence world opinion and the Palestinians hope it could pave the way for international sanctions against Israel.
Israel has snubbed the hearings, disputing the court's right to rule in the case. Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has dismissed the hearings as an "international circus".
While they criticise the barrier's route, the United States and European Union also declined to appear, saying they fear a court ruling could harm peacemaking efforts.
"It was significant that only 12 out of the 191 member states of the United Nations participated including gross violators of human rights," Daniel Taub, an Israeli Foreign Ministry observer, told journalists after the hearings.
"The question that was asked of the court was a clearly one-sided question. In fact the court was asked half a question. It was asked to put people trying to defend themselves from terrorism on trial but not the terrorists themselves," he said.
While 44 nations, including Israel, the United States and the EU, made written submissions, only a dozen, including Jordan, Cuba, South Africa and Saudi Arabia, added their voices to the Palestinian case at the three-day hearing.
Nasser al-Kidwa, the Palestinians' permanent observer at the United Nations, said he believed his team had made a good case in The Hague and thanked "other Arabs and friends" for support.
"The overall situation is in favour of the court issuing its advisory opinion and issuing it in the right direction - towards the illegality of the wall," al-Kidwa told reporters.
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